Celtic Nearly There - Few Bothered
Article by James Payne
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I struck a rather pessimistic note last week concerning Celtic’s two then upcoming matches in Dundee. I thought Celtic had looked rather unconvincing in its three previous games culminating in a surprising and, I cannot stress this enough, deserved loss (in terms of the actual play) to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup Semi-final. A week ago Celtic faced two trips to Dundee - a city in which they had won only once in four previous visits this season having shown signs of running on something close to empty in the semi. I felt that the lack of any variation in attacking tactics was making the team look increasingly predictable.
Celtic won both games though with a 2-1 win over Dundee followed by a 3-0 win at Tannadice. I had not expected to see the first game but managed to catch it after all and in the opening 20 odd minutes the Bhoys looked as lacklustre as in recent games. But Gary MacKay-Steven broke the deadlock of what had been a dull match and thereafter Celtic dominated and should have been out of sight before the Dark Blues’ late consolation. The first half on Sunday was poor from a Celtic perspective with far too many passes going astray. United did not look that brilliant either although the game itself was quite lively. However after a lovely passing move was finished off expertly by Leigh Griffiths 90 seconds into the second half Celtic played pretty well and but for a fine showing by Cierzniak in the Arabs’ goal the Hoops would have won by 5 or 6. Jackie McNamara’s side looked to be as likely to challenge Celtic as anybody when they beat us in December but it has faded badly. Should Celtic beat Dundee at Celtic Park on Friday and Aberdeen fail to beat United on Saturday then Celtic are officially champions. If Sunday’s game is anything to go by I cannot see that happening as Jackie McNamara’s team is not so much ‘running on empty’ as ‘ground to a halt’.
I was pleased that Celtic won their two games and at times played some good stuff in both. But a helluva lot of people still seem pre-occupied with other matters relating to that semi-final and the penalty that was not given. I am kind of fed up with the specifics of the incident- it should have been a penalty and somebody at the SFA should have the decency to admit it and should have done so on the day of the game without trying to make excuses or to, as was tried, shift the blame on to the Inverness player Meekings. The end.
Alas, some Celtic fans have turned the incident into an excuse to say the whole of Scottish Football is against us - not just the referees. I can only give my opinions as to what I think the truth is when it comes to accusation of bias. Here goes.
I have no doubt that many referees did not like Celtic and/or liked Rangers/’Rangers’ before they became referees and that the reverse of these standpoints will be true in fewer instances. But I think that overwhelmingly referees are able to forget past preferences and do their best to be impartial. I do think that in the past there were some referees who showed not just anti-Celtic bias but also clear pro-Rangers’ leanings and were as such not impartial. One was a guy called John Gordon and another Bobby Tait. The former last refereed a game in 1978, the latter in May 1998. Hardly current then. Whether any current referees are in the same boat I wonder but would still like to think not. Overwhelmingly though the issue with referees is not one bias but of competence. As it is everywhere else from what I can see.
As for the hierarchy of the SFA and the SPFL (and previously the SFL) again I think that there have been some fervently anti-Celtic office bearers such as Jim Farry and George Peat (who was President of the SFA as recently as 2011) but again mostly the issue seems mainly to be one of competence and it has to be acknowledged that there have been Celtic directors who have been quite high up in these bodies including now. Neil Doncaster and Stewart Regan do annoy Celtic fans because both men have seemed unusually keen to have ‘Rangers’ play in the top league since Rangers ceased to exist but I think this is because both men- both from outside Scotland originally- believe that Scottish football really is only about Rangers and Celtic (in that order). It is not and the other clubs ensured that the new Rangers would not start off in anything other than the bottom league – hardly the actions of people massively pro-Rangers I would have said. Quite how the highly compromised outgoing SFA President Campbell ‘EBT’ Ogilvie fits in – or sleeps at night- I am less sure. Individual bias? -Yep I am sure there are plenty of officials and referees with all sorts of bias- some not involving Celtic or Rangers which is a difficult concept I know. Institutional bias? Probably not though it can be a comforting thought for us Celts that there is.
I do though find it a bit strange that supporters of other teams who were accusing the SFA/SPFL of institutional basis in connection with the last day fixtures of the Championship one week cannot countenance the possibility that referees now or ever could ever be biased against Celtic the next.
I cannot see that there is any way forward when it comes to refereeing failings until there is a sea change in attitude to technology across the game far less Scotland. Up here – especially after the Meekings incident- there have been some inane articles suggesting that refereeing mistakes are part of the game that we should almost welcome and that it is preferable that really serious , potentially season or career defining errors be tolerated instead of upsetting the ‘flow’ of matches. This is seriously wrong headed but it is not just in Scotland that it is a widely held view. As anybody who ever watches cricket or rugby even casually will know the officials in the stand watching replays from 4 angles still get it wrong but I would like to think that they’d have got the Meekings/Griffiths’ incident right. As I have said before that was not a difficult one.
But then we have an incident such as the penalty that Celtic did get against United. I thought that at normal speed and with the naked eye this was a free kick and not a penalty as the foul – a nasty raking challenge to the back of Gary MacKay-Steven’s leg - began outside the box though it was close and the challenge did complete just inside the box - this was not a case of the player making sure he fell in the box. I think the referee Collum got it just wrong and I am not certain a ‘fourth official’ would have got it right either. But listening to the appalling David Tanner on Sky (Sky won’t get my money next season) straight afterwards you would have thought this incident was as clear cut as the incident the week before. It was not except that for the second week in a row a player who should have been sent off – this time for serious foul play- was not.
If Celtic do have legitimate claims of bias against them then I think we are on far firmer ground with sections of the media with Tanner’s twisted take on several incidents on Sunday being par for the course for him and many others in the broadcast media who make little attempt to hide their dislike of Celtic and preference for ‘Rangers’. People like Tanner live in a make believe world where Rangers did not go out of business and did not die- this lie has now been repeated often enough to be accepted as ‘the official version’. Tanner may not be the worst offender though he is a real pet hate of mine. It does though seem that almost everybody employed in the sports’ section of Scotland’s second biggest selling daily ‘The Daily Record’- and its sister paper ‘The Sunday Mail - has an almost pathological hatred of Celtic whilst the local commercial station Radio Clyde is if anything worse although I cannot understand anybody listening to Clyde for anything other than a masochistic laugh. If I were Peter Lawwell I would tell the Record/Mail/Clyde to stick themselves in a place where the sun does not shine. Unfortunately Sky and BT – even though they pay Celtic and the rest of Scottish football a comparative pittance- are different kettles of fish. What is said in broadcast media is still widely believed even though it is frequently both dishonest and inaccurate. And in Scotland it is disproportionately favourable to one club- ‘Rangers’.
This has been an odd season and it is ending on an unpleasant note for Celtic even if the league is clinched this coming weekend. The media – desperate for ‘Rangers’ to be promoted and unforgiving of Celtic (and others) for their (actually non-existent) role in the demise of the original Rangers – will ensure that any praise due Celtic and Ronny Deila (and I believe there is plenty) will be grudging.
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I struck a rather pessimistic note last week concerning Celtic’s two then upcoming matches in Dundee. I thought Celtic had looked rather unconvincing in its three previous games culminating in a surprising and, I cannot stress this enough, deserved loss (in terms of the actual play) to Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the Scottish Cup Semi-final. A week ago Celtic faced two trips to Dundee - a city in which they had won only once in four previous visits this season having shown signs of running on something close to empty in the semi. I felt that the lack of any variation in attacking tactics was making the team look increasingly predictable.
Celtic won both games though with a 2-1 win over Dundee followed by a 3-0 win at Tannadice. I had not expected to see the first game but managed to catch it after all and in the opening 20 odd minutes the Bhoys looked as lacklustre as in recent games. But Gary MacKay-Steven broke the deadlock of what had been a dull match and thereafter Celtic dominated and should have been out of sight before the Dark Blues’ late consolation. The first half on Sunday was poor from a Celtic perspective with far too many passes going astray. United did not look that brilliant either although the game itself was quite lively. However after a lovely passing move was finished off expertly by Leigh Griffiths 90 seconds into the second half Celtic played pretty well and but for a fine showing by Cierzniak in the Arabs’ goal the Hoops would have won by 5 or 6. Jackie McNamara’s side looked to be as likely to challenge Celtic as anybody when they beat us in December but it has faded badly. Should Celtic beat Dundee at Celtic Park on Friday and Aberdeen fail to beat United on Saturday then Celtic are officially champions. If Sunday’s game is anything to go by I cannot see that happening as Jackie McNamara’s team is not so much ‘running on empty’ as ‘ground to a halt’.
I was pleased that Celtic won their two games and at times played some good stuff in both. But a helluva lot of people still seem pre-occupied with other matters relating to that semi-final and the penalty that was not given. I am kind of fed up with the specifics of the incident- it should have been a penalty and somebody at the SFA should have the decency to admit it and should have done so on the day of the game without trying to make excuses or to, as was tried, shift the blame on to the Inverness player Meekings. The end.
Alas, some Celtic fans have turned the incident into an excuse to say the whole of Scottish Football is against us - not just the referees. I can only give my opinions as to what I think the truth is when it comes to accusation of bias. Here goes.
I have no doubt that many referees did not like Celtic and/or liked Rangers/’Rangers’ before they became referees and that the reverse of these standpoints will be true in fewer instances. But I think that overwhelmingly referees are able to forget past preferences and do their best to be impartial. I do think that in the past there were some referees who showed not just anti-Celtic bias but also clear pro-Rangers’ leanings and were as such not impartial. One was a guy called John Gordon and another Bobby Tait. The former last refereed a game in 1978, the latter in May 1998. Hardly current then. Whether any current referees are in the same boat I wonder but would still like to think not. Overwhelmingly though the issue with referees is not one bias but of competence. As it is everywhere else from what I can see.
As for the hierarchy of the SFA and the SPFL (and previously the SFL) again I think that there have been some fervently anti-Celtic office bearers such as Jim Farry and George Peat (who was President of the SFA as recently as 2011) but again mostly the issue seems mainly to be one of competence and it has to be acknowledged that there have been Celtic directors who have been quite high up in these bodies including now. Neil Doncaster and Stewart Regan do annoy Celtic fans because both men have seemed unusually keen to have ‘Rangers’ play in the top league since Rangers ceased to exist but I think this is because both men- both from outside Scotland originally- believe that Scottish football really is only about Rangers and Celtic (in that order). It is not and the other clubs ensured that the new Rangers would not start off in anything other than the bottom league – hardly the actions of people massively pro-Rangers I would have said. Quite how the highly compromised outgoing SFA President Campbell ‘EBT’ Ogilvie fits in – or sleeps at night- I am less sure. Individual bias? -Yep I am sure there are plenty of officials and referees with all sorts of bias- some not involving Celtic or Rangers which is a difficult concept I know. Institutional bias? Probably not though it can be a comforting thought for us Celts that there is.
I do though find it a bit strange that supporters of other teams who were accusing the SFA/SPFL of institutional basis in connection with the last day fixtures of the Championship one week cannot countenance the possibility that referees now or ever could ever be biased against Celtic the next.
I cannot see that there is any way forward when it comes to refereeing failings until there is a sea change in attitude to technology across the game far less Scotland. Up here – especially after the Meekings incident- there have been some inane articles suggesting that refereeing mistakes are part of the game that we should almost welcome and that it is preferable that really serious , potentially season or career defining errors be tolerated instead of upsetting the ‘flow’ of matches. This is seriously wrong headed but it is not just in Scotland that it is a widely held view. As anybody who ever watches cricket or rugby even casually will know the officials in the stand watching replays from 4 angles still get it wrong but I would like to think that they’d have got the Meekings/Griffiths’ incident right. As I have said before that was not a difficult one.
But then we have an incident such as the penalty that Celtic did get against United. I thought that at normal speed and with the naked eye this was a free kick and not a penalty as the foul – a nasty raking challenge to the back of Gary MacKay-Steven’s leg - began outside the box though it was close and the challenge did complete just inside the box - this was not a case of the player making sure he fell in the box. I think the referee Collum got it just wrong and I am not certain a ‘fourth official’ would have got it right either. But listening to the appalling David Tanner on Sky (Sky won’t get my money next season) straight afterwards you would have thought this incident was as clear cut as the incident the week before. It was not except that for the second week in a row a player who should have been sent off – this time for serious foul play- was not.
If Celtic do have legitimate claims of bias against them then I think we are on far firmer ground with sections of the media with Tanner’s twisted take on several incidents on Sunday being par for the course for him and many others in the broadcast media who make little attempt to hide their dislike of Celtic and preference for ‘Rangers’. People like Tanner live in a make believe world where Rangers did not go out of business and did not die- this lie has now been repeated often enough to be accepted as ‘the official version’. Tanner may not be the worst offender though he is a real pet hate of mine. It does though seem that almost everybody employed in the sports’ section of Scotland’s second biggest selling daily ‘The Daily Record’- and its sister paper ‘The Sunday Mail - has an almost pathological hatred of Celtic whilst the local commercial station Radio Clyde is if anything worse although I cannot understand anybody listening to Clyde for anything other than a masochistic laugh. If I were Peter Lawwell I would tell the Record/Mail/Clyde to stick themselves in a place where the sun does not shine. Unfortunately Sky and BT – even though they pay Celtic and the rest of Scottish football a comparative pittance- are different kettles of fish. What is said in broadcast media is still widely believed even though it is frequently both dishonest and inaccurate. And in Scotland it is disproportionately favourable to one club- ‘Rangers’.
This has been an odd season and it is ending on an unpleasant note for Celtic even if the league is clinched this coming weekend. The media – desperate for ‘Rangers’ to be promoted and unforgiving of Celtic (and others) for their (actually non-existent) role in the demise of the original Rangers – will ensure that any praise due Celtic and Ronny Deila (and I believe there is plenty) will be grudging.
© e-Football 2015 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
Well written piece...with good,honest intentions.
ReplyDeleteI would disagree,however,with your views on referees.
The modern refs. I admit aren't quite as bad as the Whartons/Davidsons/Symes and Taits.
Tait,incidentally,came into a pub in East Kilbride and said to me...
"I've been promoted to Grade 1...so when your mob are singing who's the Mason in the Black...you'll be able to tell them...it's Bobby Tait." I told him to feck right off before I skelped him.
True story.
Nah...they're still alive and well...and we should never forget it.
This is Scotland after all.